Hello 2020!
Could this be the year when I get back into blogging? 🤔😄
I wanted to start writing again, just didn’t know what, and then my good friend reminded me about my writings about filmmaking and the cinema world.. and it seems that there is a lot I have not yet shared.
VOLUNTEERING ON “THE BLIZZARD OF SOULS”
My latest post (click here to read) was my second post about volunteering and being on the set. A lot more have happened. Below are some photos (may be in the wrong order, but the order (tbh) doesn’t really matter. 😄
There were cold winter days, sad rainy days and hot summer days.. my job as a volunteer was to make hot tea and bring on the set to the extras and actors in between of filming. Also from time to time help with catering, putting up direction signs that lead to the set, stopping cars (so they wouldn’t drive into the scene).
You can see in one picture above how we, in that cold winter day, were holding out red tray of hot tea. And believe it or not – we were the most popular crew members. Imagine – it is a frrreaking cold day, your feet are wet because of the costume boots, you are playing a dead man who has to lie in real, wet and cold snow with your face in it AND you cannot move. Well that is the worst case scenario, so obviously the brave soldiers were super happy and thankful for us and our hot tea.
The “hand” pictures… well.. if you see a hand just laying next to you, you have to play a bit. 😆
The one amazing story about that one very cold day.. it was February. We were in a swamp. Or “on” a swamp.. anyway – a swamp! To get to the set you had to walk from the base for about 15 minutes. As I and my volunteer friend almost arrived, they were filming so everyone around had to be quiet (the place where they were shooting was like 15m away from us. I was walking in front, my friend behind me. And suddenly I hear nothing – my friend is not walking behind me so I look behind and she has her foot broken through the ice of the swamp and she cannot get it out. And that view was so hilarious, I tried to hold myself but I couldn’t, and since because of the filming we had to be quiet, I was laughing, bowing and holding my stomach like a crazy person WITHOUT a sound. I bet it looked hilarious. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 I went a few steps back to help her (oh, the reason why we had to walk one behind the other was because there was a safe trail), I took her leg and we tried to pull it out but it just was so stuck, we were both no-sound laughing about how stupid it is, how hilarious it looks and how we cannot get it out. I remembered that I saw earlier a crew guy with a long sharp stick with which they were hitting/cutting the ice. So obviously after we fail, I whisper to her that I will go get someone with that stick to help. Of course at that moment she got her leg out. The leg was completely fine, was just stuck there, but that was the most hilarious moment on the set I ever experienced. Our stomachs were hurting because of all that laughing.
AN EXTRA
This was summer, 2018. I had a chance to come to a [different] movie set as an extra. This movie was with a looot less budget. I saw their catering, heard about their pay, they had only 1 or if really needed 2 cameras, way less advanced booms, way less advances lights if I’m comparing to the set and production of “Blizzard of Souls”. I was able to see the difference between two different budgets.
I had been an extra before, but never I had hair stylist made my hair for a filming. I was seated in a chair, got my hair made and a bit of fixing up make up. And yet, at the end I got a few minutes later to the set than the other extras and since they were already seated in the scene, I was just asked to sit next to the crew and wait until I will be needed. And so at the end, just out of pity I guess, I was asked to just walk across the room behind the main character. All you could see in the shot was my yellow dress, not even my head and hair, and even the dress did not make in to the final cut.
So, even though I did not get onto the screen, it was a very good experience. ANY experience on any production (big budget or small) is a great experience.
I believe I have said it before, but I stand by it – PRODUCTION IS WAY MORE INTERESTING THAN THE MOVIE ITSELF. Obviously a movie is also interesting and gives you different emotions, etc., but the amount of work that is put in there is just priceless, and to see that and be a part of that is truly wonderful.
I saw the post about them searching for extras on a Facebook casting group, so I applied – I sent them an e-mail with my photos, height, and whatever else they needed. Then I got an accept and that is how I got it!
THE ROLE OF “WAITRESS”
This acting job wouldn’t have happened without the “job” above. Apparently the casting lady had saved my file and called me up asking if I was interested in this little project. This was a couple months after that, so it came as a surprise.
It was an 8 hour shoot for a bank, a video for social media that sadly I did not get to see as a final cut nor I got to share it to my friends. I suppose it was running as an ad. That is the only explanation. 😕
BUT, it was still amazing, I had close ups, I got to act infront of camera, I wasn’t just an extra. Also they did my make up. 😏 #cool
A fun story.. not sure if it was fun for the crew, but…… ok two stories, but both are about how I was cracking up.
#1. At the table there was this one guy with SUCH a funny smile, the smile was so unrealistic, so fake, so stupid that it made me laugh so much. I had to look into his eyes, I don’t recall if I had to smile at him or be serious, but I cracked up every single take. I think the director and the crew hated me for that. 😅 And believe me, if you would’ve seen it, you would’ve cracked up too.
#2. This was only a one time crack up (I think it was just once..). It was my close up, the shot was a serious one, I had to be very serious, everyone is quiet – a complete silence. (We were shooting in a restaurant that was closed for public but the kitchen was working). Suddenly through the silence I hear a chef yelling “WHAT ABOUT THOSE PANCREAS?!” to his colleagues. And I BURST OUT a solid laugh. I found that SO hilarious. It was all a big silence, everyone was super serious, I was concentrating so much and suddenly I hear “pancreas”. 🤣🤣🤣 Who wouldn’t have laughed at that? There was one girl by the table laughing with me, so at least I wasn’t the only one.
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This is where I end this post. I know it was a bit longer, but I hope it was interesting and you had a little insight in productions and filmmaking. If you have any questions about anything, write them below. I will be happy to answer (if I will be able to). And if there is something else you want me to write about concerning set life, production or, really, anything else – let me know!
That’s a wrap!
The Butterfly Girl 